The China History Podcast

For this 301st CHP episode, we cover some more great Overseas Chinese history. Rather than biting off more than I could chew by taking on the bigger story of Chinese emigration to the Caribbean, the focus will be on the island nation of Jamaica. The Chinese Jamaican story is another Hakka story. Contained in this episode is just one sliver of the history of this great and musical nation. I hope th...

For this Milestone Episode in CHP history, we finish off our overview of the history of Chinese alchemy. Top billing this time will be the biggest name in the industry, Ge Hong 葛洪. Other notable alchemists and alchemical works will be introduced up to the Ming, followed by a Lightning Round of emperors who died by alchemical poisoning. Thanks to all of you who have supported me these past three...

This is the first of a two-part series that will explore the history of Chinese alchemy. We'll look at the most important names of alchemists and the works they produced. The emphasis of this series will be on "Waigong" 外丹 External Alchemy. Hard to believe people ingested toxic heavy metals as long as they did to achieve immortality. In this Part 1 episode, we'll look at alchemy's most ancient o...

I'm happy to welcome Dr. Brandon Gauthier onto the CHP. His new book, just out, "Before Evil" looks at the early lives of six dictators: Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler, and Kim Il-Sung. In this discussion, we'll mainly look at Mao's early life. Despite only focusing on one of the six dictators, this lively chat runs for about an hour. Since I've never presented Mao in a standalone series, t...

This episode is another listener request. In fact, Homer Lea's been requested regularly throughout the years. He's more of a footnote from history than actual history itself. Homer's story is kind of unique because of the stumbling blocks life threw his way. He didn't live long but in his short life he got to witness a lot and be a sort of "fly on the wall" to some of the great moments in Revoluti...

Laszlo welcomes Scripps College professor of music Dr. Hao Huang onto the CHP to discuss the stories of Jewish musicians from Germany and Austria who fled Europe and ended up in Shanghai. This is a companion episode to the six-part series on the Jewish Refugees in Shanghai (Episodes 208-213). Professor Huang discusses the trials and tribulations these musicians faced, stories of their survival, an...

In this episode, we will finish up this overview of the relations between Rome and China. The Roman Empire in the West ended in 476. In this Part 2 episode, we'll look at relations between the Byzantine Empire and China during the Tang, Song, and Yuan. As you'll soon discover the Nestorians and then later the Catholics led by John of Montecorvino dominated official and unofficial relations between...

This is sort of a strange topic. In Part 1 we'll look at the early history that took place between the Han Dynasty and the Western Roman Empire. Before we tuck into the chicken ribs that are Sino-Roman Relations, I'll introduce you to the far-out theory that Professor Homer Dubs came up with in the 1950s. A lot of people swear this happened. Then we'll look at the famous Gan Ying mission of 97 AD...

If the title sounds familiar, that's because this is a new version of an old episode from 2014 that got pulled from the CHP back catalog. But here it is, newly recorded and enhanced. This episode looks at the Ma family of soldiers and warlords in the northwest provinces of Ningxia, Gansu and Qinghai. Their story began in the last years of the Dungan Revolt and concluded with the victory of the Chi...

Documentarian and podcaster James Harper of Filter Stories has joined up with history professor Jonathan Morris to produce a nice, short but sweet, six-part series that looks at the history of this aromatic psychoactive seed that, like tea, played no small part in changing the world. If you liked the tea history series, I warmly welcome you to go check this one out from James and Jonathan that exa...

In this 293rd CHP episode, we feature the Sriracha Chili Sauce King, David Tran. His life is a great immigrant success story and an inspiration to many aspiring immigrants and entrepreneurs. It's not often that a living person is featured on the CHP. David Tran's ancestors came from the Chaozhou region of China and emigrated to Vietnam in the 19th century. After a traumatic turn of events that for...

Lu Xun's been on the long list of future topics since 2010 and I still haven't gotten to him. Why wait for me? Lee and Rob Moore of the Chinese Literature Podcast just launched a multi-episode series on the life and literary works of Lu Xun. Here is the introductory episode from Lee and Rob. You can listen to all the episodes of this guaranteed hit series at the Chinese Literature Podcast. See lin...

This is the second part of a brief overview of Hainan history with special guest Professor Jeremy Murray. In this episode, Laszlo and Dr. Murray discuss Hainan history during the Qing, Republican, and PRC eras with some discussion of Hainanese culture. For more content and ways to support Teacup Media, visit our website at teacup.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laszlo welcomes California State University professor Dr. Jeremy Murray onto the CHP to help introduce the history of Hainan. In this Part 1 episode, they discuss the Hainan history timeline up to the end of the Ming Dynasty. For more content and ways to support Teacup Media, visit our website at teacup.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We continue with the conclusion of this series that looks at the life and times of Chiang Kai-shek's Spymaster, Dai Li, and his eight-year reign of terror. After being dealt a heavy blow in the Yan Baohang and Zhang Shuping spy cases, Dai found himself back on his heels with a legion of haters trying to tear him down. But it's always darkest before the dawn. And after Pearl Harbor and the sudden p...

The tale of Dai Li continues beginning with the passing of Sun Yat-sen in March 1926 and the rise of Chiang Kai-shek. The dreaded Blue Shirts are introduced along with Dai Li's rise up the ladder hanging on the coattails of Chiang. He demonstrates his undying loyalty to the Generalissimo during the Xian Incident and sets up the organization that made him famous, the innocuous-sounding Bureau of In...

In this Part 1 of a 3 episode series covering the life and times of Dai Li, we look at his early beginnings, living the thug life in Shanghai and falling in with all the right people. We'll trace his quick rise up the ranks of Chiang Kai-shek's formidable spy agencies. He was often called "China's Himmler" due to his slavish devotion to his boss, Chiang Kai-shek, and for his role in setting up Chi...

Though the villainous empresses always seem to generate the most popular interest, this time we'll look at the life of one of the many good ones, an outstanding one if I may add. Empress Zhangsun was the bride of Tang Dynasty heavy Li Shimin. When he became the second Tang emperor following one of the most dramatic events in early Chinese history, he reigned as Emperor Taizong. We remember Empress...

On October 24th, 1871 the Los Angeles Chinatown Massacre took place near the present-day location of Union Station, just north of the core downtown L.A. area. Though mostly unknown rather than forgotten, this incident that happened one hundred fifty years ago this month will be remembered through a number of commemorative events. The Chinese American Museum (today located adjacent to where the atr...

In addition to the latest CHP episode on the L.A. Chinatown Massacre, I also wanted to offer you a reading of an article that appeared in an 1894 edition of The Historical Society of Southern California journal. This article by C.P. Dorland was written only twenty-three years after the incident took place and described the events leading up to, during, and after the tragic event of October 24, 287...

We're going to wind things down with this episode. 1863-1864, the bitter and bloody end of the Taiping Rebellion. Charles George Gordon has his walk-on but Zeng Guofan and brother Zeng Guoquan take the limelight in the ultimate showdown with the Taiping holdouts. When it was all over, the Taiping Rebellion ended up having quite a consequential impact on China's trajectory into the 20th century. We...

After the Convention of Beijing was signed in 1860, the foreign pers weren't so sure about the Taiping's anymore. For the sake of preserving their hard-won gains in the Second Opium War, they hopped down off that fence and sided with the Qing forces. In this episode, we hear about Frederick Townshend Ward and the Ever Victorious Army. 1862 was the pivotal year for the allies lined up against the T...

After seizing the all-important city of Nanjing in March 1853 and basking in the afterglow of this victory, the Taiping leadership launches two military expeditions, one to the north to capture the capital, Beijing, and the other to the west. In this episode, we'll see how those two ventures panned out. Then in 1856, comes the first major political crisis that happens at the very top of the Taipin...

We're back with more of the Taiping Rebellion. In this episode, we trace the Taiping Rebels as they make their way from Yong'an in Guangxi all the way to the southern capital of Nanjing. As they make their way north and east towards western Jiangsu they grow in numbers and seize great amounts of weapons, silver, and boats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now's as good a time as any to finally feature this well-known, regularly requested topic from Qing history. This is arguably the pivotal event that got the dominos falling that led to the Warlord Era and the later founding of the PRC. For anyone unfamiliar with the Taiping Rebellion, how it got started, and the situation in China during the mid 19th century, over the next few episodes, I'll try a...